Shreelekha Singh, Content Writer at Videowise
11–14 minutes
Trust. Authenticity. Transparency.
That’s what the modern consumer wants from your marketing content. And what better way to deliver this than video reviews?
This essentially user-generated content offers potential buyers genuine insight into your products—what it’s like to use them, how they differ from other market variants, and so on.
The only difference? User-generated product reviews are more effective than anything you can come up with. In fact, research states that 72% of shoppers trust peer testimonials over brand advertisements, even when they involve the same message.
This article, then, will explore the benefits of video reviews. More importantly, we’ll discuss where you should incorporate them to have the maximum impact.
Why should you care about video reviews?
It’s no secret that video testimonials are far more impactful than static text reviews. They are better positioned to evoke customer emotion, showcase your products in action, convey consumers’ genuine experience with your offerings, and more.
Below, we’ve broken down four benefits of leveraging visual customer reviews in your marketing and promotional efforts.
1. Increased trust and transparency
Video reviews let shoppers offer feedback and share their unfiltered opinions with potential buyers.
More importantly, when you leverage video testimonials across your social channels and site pages, you put the spotlight on your audience. This helps facilitate a deeper brand-customer relationship and shows a commitment to building audience transparency and trust.
To get a better idea, take a look at Apolla’s dedicated review section. These short clips show people discussing their experience with the brand’s products.
When shoppers come across these videos, they’re going to realize two things:
- First, Apollo wants to highlight the real experiences of their existing buyers
- Second, the brand’s audience is happy with the products they’ve bought
In other words, video product reviews reassure people that your products are worth purchasing. And they do it not through over-the-top branded messaging but with the help of genuine, positive customer opinions.
2. Enhanced product understanding
Approximately 70% of consumers believe visual content helps them better understand the product they’re purchasing.
Now, put this in the context of video reviews. When shoppers talk about your offering in such a format, they often elaborate on how they’ve used your product, what challenges/pain points it has helped solve, or even how it compares to market variants.
This gives prospective buyers better insight into a particular item. In short, they learn more about what they can expect from a potential purchase, its benefits, and its unique selling point (USP).
And this isn’t just limited to software or electronic goods. Data suggests that customers want visual content and reviews for multiple product categories, including DIY tools, home appliances, household supplies, and more.
Think about it this way: Your marketing campaigns and promotional efforts can only advertise your products how you perceive them. Video product reviews, however, do it in a way that customers view them.
3. Higher engagement and conversion rates
Embedding video testimonials on your pages can go a long way in keeping users engaged. Research indicates that 54% of viewers are likely to watch a clip in its entirety. That number jumps to 62% if the footage is under 60 minutes.
Considering that almost all reviews online are 1-2 minutes long, a third of your site visitors engage with customer-led product content. That’s more time spent learning about how your offerings benefit consumers or their use cases.
Beyond that, such visual content can also increase your conversion rate. For instance, Satokausikalenteri found that adding video reviews to their product pages boosted conversions by 4.2%.
As opposed to this, text-based testimonials saw a conversion rate of just 3.5%. That’s roughly a 20% difference in overall sales volume!
In addition, video product reviews are ideal for social sharing. This, in turn, can organically boost your online reach, improve online brand visibility, and result in better cross-channel engagement.
4. Improved search engine visibility and ranking
In 2013, Google launched Hummingbird, a search algorithm that prioritized user intent over keywords. Essentially, if you typed in a search query that began with a question, Google would display the most relevant videos to help answer it.
Hummingbird’s impact can be felt even today. Go ahead, type something along the lines of ‘how to…’ or ‘what is…’, and you’ll see clips pop up after the first result.
So, how does this fit into the context of video reviews? It’s simple. If you title your videos as if you’re answering a question, their chances of showing up on SERPs will improve significantly.
For instance, instead of captioning user-generated reviews in a generic way, try creating a title along the lines of ‘How to use Product X to reduce acne’. This way, when someone searches for acne solutions, your content shows up on their results.
The higher your videos rank, the more likely users will click on them. That means more page traffic, increased click-through rates (CTR), and improved dwell time. The result? Your bounce rates go down, and Google pushes users to access your content more frequently.
Where should you integrate video product reviews?
Now that you understand how video testimonials can benefit your brand, you may be wondering about where you can actually place them. Fortunately, you’ve got plenty of options to choose from.
Below, we’ve listed four best-performing channels to get you started.
1. Product pages
If a shopper has made it to your product page, they’re just a click away from purchasing. All they need is reassurance **that they’re making the right choice.
Video product reviews can help provide that. By showing potential buyers the positive experiences of your existing customers, you can convince them to go through with the transaction.
Tortuga Backpacks did precisely this and embedded user video reviews on the product page for their travel sling.
The clips show people using the sling in various scenarios. For example, a photographer talks about how they can fit their peripheral equipment in the bag while traveling, and another customer discusses how it helps them carry their daily essentials.
All of this builds into one idea: Tortuga’s slings are for everyone. And when a prospective buyer realizes that, they’ll put their reservations aside and make the purchase they had been considering all this while.
2. Email marketing
Data suggests that adding a video to an email can boost open rates by 6%. Why? Because people are naturally curious. When they see a video thumbnail attached to an email, they want to know what the clip is about.
Another study found that embedding visual content in your emails can increase your CTR by a whopping 65%.
Now, take those statistics and put them in the context of video product reviews.
So, let’s say you’ve got 10 new email subscriptions. These users aren’t your customers just yet. They’ve only joined your email list to get periodic updates.
However, if you embed video testimonials in your outgoing emails, those prospects will be more likely to open them. They may even click a link to a landing page. From there, they can choose to learn more about your offerings, browse through other categories, or make a purchase.
In short, you’ve just converted a potential buyer into a verified customer. And all because you added a video review to your email.
3. Social media campaigns
Your social media campaigns can benefit immensely from a video testimonial. Take Nicki Marie’s unsponsored review of Olipop soda, for instance. Structured as a classic unboxing video, the clip has her trying out multiple flavors before reviewing each one.
Of course, this is a specific example where a brand discovered a suitable marketing opportunity and leveraged it to boost its online visibility. However, that doesn’t change the fact that Olipop now has access to Marie’s clip and can use it in its future campaigns.
That said, you don’t have to go down this route. A great alternative would be to opt for giveaways or contests. Simply offer rewards for users who post their experience with your product. Then, use that footage to help build social proof.
4. Live streams, webinars, and other online events
If you frequently livestream or host other online events, adding user-generated video content to the mix would be an excellent idea. That will help you provide potential buyers with real-time social proof.
So, say you sell organic skincare products. And you’ve got a Q & A planned in the coming week. Consider showing a 30-second clip of a customer talking about how your product helped with their dermatological issues during the stream.
This way, you ensure that your viewers see what your product can do.
The same goes for any other category. Selling a software platform? Add footage of customers discussing how the app addressed their challenges—marketing home appliances or DIY tools? Show your existing consumers using those things.
It’s all about leveraging audience attention. Put simply, online events draw a sizable crowd in most cases. There’s no reason for you to not capitalize on this opportunity to boost product awareness.
How to embed your review videos with Videowise
With Videowise as a partner, you can instantly leverage video reviews’ power.
Its drag-and-drop editing tools let you seamlessly add clips to your pages. Got a bunch of engaging user-generated video reviews that you want to embed on-site? Add it as a carousel, a pop-up, or in a grid format.
The best part? You can make these clips shoppable to offer customers a smooth online shopping experience. That’s not all. With Videowise, you also gain access to:
- A fully customizable video player to match your brand logo and colors
- Mobile-first design templates that can also adapt to any device or screen
- Integrations to process subscriptions, add reviews, or bundles directly in the player
- Multiple responsive and adaptive widgets on any page
- Bulk-embedding without losing page speed
Take a peek at how Ava Estell collaborated with Videowise. From shoppable clips on product pages to in-depth explainers, Ava Estell completely overhauled its on-page video content. The result? 743K GBP in revenue, with one particular clip generating over 124K GBP alone.
Start leveraging the power of video reviews today
Video product views aren’t just a passing trend. They are here to stay.
And it’s clear to see why that is. Unlike text-based testimonials, they are better equipped to improve the brand-customer relationship and promote transparency.
In addition, visual content helps consumers understand the product better, increases engagement and conversion rates, and elevates your search engine visibility and ranking.
Put simply, if you aren’t incorporating user-generated video reviews into your promotional strategy, you’re missing out on a considerable marketing opportunity. Still, if you need more convincing, read about how some of the top eCommerce brands have leveraged video reviews.
